Rex (RExxon) Tillerson forged a massive venture with Russian-owned oil company and Putin's gravy train, Rosneft in 2012. But then Vladimir decided to invade Ukraine and Obama had no choice but to issue sanctions upon Russia, putting a halt to any progress on this massive project. This was a monkey wrench into the $500 billion venture between Rosneft and Exxon. Until now.
The Wall Street Journal explains:
Exxon has been seeking U.S. permission to drill with Rosneft in several areas banned by sanctions and applied in recent months for a waiver to proceed in the Black Sea, according to these people.
The Black Sea request is likely to be closely scrutinized by members of Congress who are seeking to intensify sanctions on Russia in response to what the U.S. said was its use of cyberattacks to interfere with elections last year. Congress has also launched an investigation into whether there were ties between aides to Donald Trump and Russia’s government during the presidential campaign and the political transition.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is Exxon’s former chief executive officer and forged a close working relationship with Rosneft and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The State Department is among the U.S. government agencies that have a say on Exxon’s waiver application, according to current and former U.S. officials.
Due to the sanctions, other major components of the Exxon-Rosneft agreement were put on hold in 2014, shortly before Rosneft revealed that the first well the two companies drilled together in the arctic waters of the Kara Sea may hold as much as 750 million barrels of oil.
The Black Sea has become a major area of interest for many of the world’s biggest oil companies. Exxon has drilled there off the coast of Romania and holds a license for an area in Ukrainian waters. Royal Dutch Shell PLC has also drilled in the Black Sea off the coast of Turkey.
Isn't it convenient that the State Department plays a major role in approving this deal? Tillerson and Trump, likely at the behest of Vladimir Putin, have gutted the Department of State, which is woefully understaffed.
The state department’s weakness also empowers Trump and his advisers, and enables them to more easily bypass the electorate and the bureaucracy when making foreign policy decisions.
There's no question why Putin simply marched his way into Ukraine and seized Crimea, strategic access is very important. He wasn't about to say bye bye (до свидания, do svidaniya) to all those rubles.
The earning potential of the Black Sea makes Saudi Arabia's oil reserves seem like the 'JV Squad' of wealth. So now, Putin has his personal buddy in charge of removing those very financially straining sanctions and VOILA! CA CHING! Rexxon, Putin and all the other evil members of their circle of fascism can rule the world.
The GOP pretends to love the unborn as a diversion, so we don't mention the unpleasant reality that our government is controlled by a party completely devoted to this oil deal. Even Halliburton plays a pretty big role in all this.
Russia faces a dilemma: it still needs Exxon Mobil Corp., Halliburton Co. and BP Plc to maintain output from Soviet-era oil fields and develop Arctic and shale reserves.
There's nothing to see here, no unsavory business practices, no ethical conundrums, right? Just a couple hundred billion dollars, ROUGHLY $8,000,000,000,000.00 (TRILLION) to polluters and murderers with unlimited nuclear access. What could possibly go wrong?
h/t to Jimbo for the heads up
